Roisin Conaty will remember 2010 as the year where everything changed. Earlier this year she was crowned Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and since then Roisin has had a spot on Russell Howard’s Good News and she’s just taken part in The Angina Monologues, a charity performance in aid of the British Heart Foundation alongside Victoria Wood, Jo Brand, Andi Osho, Jessica Hynes and more.
Comedy Central caught Roisin on a rare day off to ask her about her award, her ‘Creepy’ alter-ego and Santa Claus.
Roisin Conaty
Congrats on the award, how has your life changed since winning it?
Thanks! At first it didn’t feel like it had but it has. I’m getting more gigs which is a good thing and some telly. I did the Russell Howard show and then The Angina Monologues the other day with Victoria Wood and Jo Brand and I think that wouldn’t have happened because I didn’t have much of a profile. So it definitely makes people more interested to see you and to book you for things which is good!
What was it like working with those comedy giants the other night?
It was amazing, really genuinely it was amazing. I was getting my make up done next to Jo Brand and I was just a bit stunned, she’s one of the nicest women I’ve ever met and Victoria Wood was exactly the same, just so lovely.
On stage as well, just watching them…she was away for ten years and…it wasn’t a loving affair, it was a charity gig but she’s earned every laugh, she can still smash it…like really, cleverly you know it was really, really good and inspiring actually you know, these women who have been doing it for years and years and years, the longevity of it is really important.
Were you in awe or like ‘why have they chosen me?’
On the line up there were people who I’ve gigged with before – Isy [Suttie] and Andi Osho…but the thing is because I was the least known I think on the bill, I was worried that everyone would go to the bar more so because it was quite long and they’d be like ‘oh we don’t know who this is’ but it was a nice gig.
Would you say the Edinburgh nomination was the highlight of your career so far?
Yea, id say so…definitely doing my first hour up in Edinburgh was and then getting the nomination and then winning it…yeah without a doubt it was the highlight of my career.
What about the lowlight?
Hmmm good God! Probably at some rubbish gig when you’re like ‘what are you doing with your life?’ – I’ve had many so I can’t think…
So what’s the worst gig you’ve had?
I did this Sex and the City evening… it was like some sort of evening to do with the film and they put me into a booth, like a DJ booth so you could only see my eyes and gave me a cordless mic and said ‘do your thing!’ It was just awful, in a nightclub, it was just horrific. They were looking at me like ‘you’re not doing very well’ and I was like ‘I can’t even see them! I’m not a DJ’. That was pretty tough.
CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 TO FIND OUT ABOUT HER ‘CREEPY’ ALTER-EGO…
